


Highest and Lowest

by Melancholy_Incarnate



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Cold Weather, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Grinding, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Praise Kink, Sharing a Bed, Smut, Snuggling to survive, Spooning, clearly my favorite tag, thigh riding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:02:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29579277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melancholy_Incarnate/pseuds/Melancholy_Incarnate
Summary: Rex and the medic have crash landed on a frozen planet far from help and it will be days before the Republic Fleet can get to them through the brewing storm. The power runs low, and tensions have been brewing for months already. Will this crisis be enough to push them over the edge?
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex/Reader
Comments: 20
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

The medic listened to the labored breathing of the ship anxiously, noting the hiss of unknown machinery and the odd clunk of something turning on or off. Either one could be bad. Either one probably _was_ bad. She didn't know. She didn't know, and she hated it. _I wish I'd gone into mechanics,_ she silently bemoaned. _Maybe then I could get us out of this mess..._ Wishful thinking, of course, but the could haves and should haves always prevailed in bad situations. 

She glanced through the transparisteel window again. Blank white snow. Again. It was shaping up to be a blizzard and Rex still wasn't back yet. Which was probably the worst of her anxieties right then. He was out there in the storm somewhere trying to find help. Just when she was about to turn around and pace the length of the ship again, there was the knock. _Oh thank the Maker_. He was alive. Shaking hands punched in the door code and it squealed open to reveal blue-marked armor turned white with snow. Just from his posture she could tell he was cold and dead on his feet. She ushered him inside without a word and closed the door, shivering in the icy blasts gusting into the bay and sucking out all the warmth so laboriously generated by the tired power cells.

"Take off that armor, you're melting everywhere," she ordered.

"Yes, medic," he mumbled with halfhearted sarcasm. Frozen fingers fumbled with the clasps of his cold cuirass and he stared down at them through the helmet before taking off his gloves and trying again. Worried now, but for a different reason, the medic stepped forward to take off his helmet. Rex looked slightly dazed, and very, very cold. His lips and cheeks were pale and his fingers were bloodless and stiff. 

"I'm taking off your armor," she told him. It wasn't a request. Rex nodded, and she unclasped each section with the lightning-fast speed of a near-panicked professional. In minutes he was clear of plastoid. His blacks were soaked, but he wasn't shivering. _He wasn't shivering._ _Hells,_ thought the medic. 

"I'm gonna take off your blacks; we have to get you dried off. Okay?" She put on her best Doctor voice, trying to cover the rising panic clawing at her guts like a furious nexu. 

"Buy me a drink first," he managed through lips burning with cold.

Her laughter was manic, right on the edge. If he died, she'd be all alone and that was something she wouldn't be able to handle. 

She unzipped his blacks and peeled him out of them as quickly as she could manage. 

"You're gonna be fine. Get you warmed up in no time," she said cheerfully, despairingly, to the nude man. _What if he doesn't get warm?_

He watched her tiredly as she sprinted to the fresher and grabbed the nearest dry towel and back. She was gentle but fast, wiping as much of the cold wet off his skin as she could reasonably manage before guiding him to lie down on the bed. He had started to shiver, then, which was a good sign. His teeth clattered softly at first, and then more violently as she frantically shucked off the layers she'd managed to find while he was out, stripping down to her blacks and sliding in beside the Captain. Any sense of propriety, of modesty, was gone, he was far too cold to care and she far too concerned about it to care either. She grabbed his hands like icicles and softly blew on them, using her breath to warm them up. He pulled his hands away and buried them in his armpits. She didn't protest.

"Come on, Captain. You'll be alright. Just a little chilly is all," she muttered, snuggling up tight against him. His face buried itself in her neck, nose a point of ice on her pulse. His skin was cold, but his breath was warm in its shivering gasps against her neck. He was curled in on himself and the shivers were getting stronger until he was practically convulsing. It was an inevitable part of warming up. They just had to wait it out.

"Stay awake."

He groaned.

"Rex. Stay awake. Verbal confirmation requested."

"Affirmative," he answered, lips against her collarbone. 

She wrapped her arms around him as the shaking worsened, trying to keep him from hitting his head on the bulkhead. 

"Thanks," he shivered out.

They stayed like that for a long time as the shivers died down, Rex's face pressed to the medic's warm neck, breathing in the sweet smell of cherries and her skin.

"I think it's okay to sleep now," she whispered into his close-cropped hair.

* * *

The medic woke to the gentle sound of breath in her ear and a heavy warmth at her back. Somehow in the night they had shifted so she was cuddled close with her back against his front, with his arm over her waist. His hand was flat on her stomach, broad fingers splayed almost possessively over her abdomen. She scooted back, deeper into the blankets. Deeper into his embrace. She didn't know _why_ she did it, but it felt undeniably right. She chalked it up to the fact that he was so warm and the ship was so cold. 

Rex hummed out a sleepy little groan and it rumbled ever so nicely in his chest and down her spine. He was, she decided, an _excellent_ big spoon. Who knew Captain Rex of the 501st was such a snuggler? She moved around a little, trying to get comfortable so she could drift off to sleep again, but something was poking her right next to her spine and it was awfully distracting- and then she remembered that the Captain was very very naked and went immediately still. _Ah, yes._ Her face bloomed with heat. _That._

He grumbled again. 

"G'back t' sleep, cyar'ika," he murmured into her hair, obviously still mostly asleep, arms caging her in like bands of durasteel. Unfortunately (or fortunately) his voice was not only rather nice from afar and when he was awake, but even nicer when it was husky with sleep and she could feel it in her ribcage. And it was softer, kinder, somehow, this close, wrapped up in his arms. _Heavens,_ she had it bad. Fuck. And the medic didn't know what "cyar'ika" meant, but she liked to imagine it was some kind of endearment and her heart fluttered.

Slowly, irresistibly, she twisted to lay on her back and rested her head in the crook of his neck, hip pressing into his groin and he gave a sort of little twitch of his hips that nearly gave her a heart attack. _He_ _won't remember any of this in the morning,_ she thought with some relief. _Maybe he won't, but I certainly will,_ another part countered. She had the wicked urge to do it again, and the even more wicked urge to touch him. She did neither, and focused all her efforts on falling back asleep. 

After a long time, with the willpower of a fucking _Jedi_ , she finally slipped back into dreamless unawareness.

* * *

When the medic woke, he wasn't beside her. He had his armor on, helmet closed over his head in a clear attempt to block her out. He was less than subtle. But she wasn't all that concerned about it right then, because she was cold. Really cold. She scrambled out of the bed and eagerly donned three pairs of pants and three shirts she'd found the day before. Two shirts and a pair of pants were missing, and she assumed Rex was wearing them under the armor.

"Any news?"

"Ship's a day and a half out. They're trying to repair their hyperdrive, but they're coming as fast as they can."

"How's our fuel?"

"Low. Had to cut power consumption by turning down the lights. Lucky snow reflects lots of light." He gestured out at the scene through the transparisteel windscreen she'd been so anxiously watching the day before. 

"Take off your helmet, cuirass, and gloves," she ordered after a moment. His helmet whipped around to stare at her and she imagined the shocked expression on his face. "Please."

"Why."

"Post-injury assessment."

He removed the items efficiently, saving the helmet for last and she stood, slightly impatient. _If only I had a good pair of gloves right about now,_ she lamented.

As soon as his helmet was off, she reached out to touch his neck, check his pulse. Obviously she moved too fast or he was on edge or _something_ , because one moment she was standing facing the Captain and the next her hands were held behind her back and she was forced into a crouch on the floor. She was a little hurt, but his combat training was strong, no matter how much he trusted her. 

"It's great to know your reflexes are still intact," she joked quietly. "But I still need to check your pulse."

"Ah, sorry." At least he had the sense to sound a little bit ashamed of himself even as he grinned down and helped her up. 

Her fingers were chilly on his neck, and goosebumps prickled the skin of his arms under his armor. 

"Seems good," she said, pulling her almost-warm hand away. "Follow my finger." He did, easily. "Gotta check there's no swelling in your organs," she told him. "You ticklish at all?"

"You know I'm not," he replied. 

"Yeah, yeah." Her hands were cool as they slid up under his shirts to rest over his blacks, pushing and poking at his abdomen. It did tickle, a little bit, but he said nothing, didn't squirm at all. She took his hands in hers then, and ordered him to flex them, bend them, twist them. He did. She poked and squeezed at them, assessing feeling. Everything seemed fine.

"What's the prognosis, doc?" Rex asked.

"Ship shape. Well, not _this_ ship's shape."

Something clunked and the lights turned out. The hiss of the heaters was immediately silent, and both looked up to the vent, hoping it would come back on.

"Shit."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no smut yet but were getting there also this chapter kicked my ass so im done with it now i dont care about it anymore

And that was how, for the second time in one day, the medic ended up in the bunk snuggled up against the captain. Of course, this time he was clothed. He'd even tried to get in the bunk with his armor on, but she immediately vetoed that, citing "it's pokey and it hurts". With a sigh and probably an eyeroll (not that she could see his face through the helmet, mind), he'd undone it all and slipped under the small emergency chem heat blanket. 

At first they had just sat next to each other, played a few card games with the deck the medic had smuggled in. Rex had given her his stern Captain look when she pulled it out and she'd just about melted, but she wasn't about to tell him that.

"Oh come on Mister Moral Compass, it's just games."

"Fine," he'd acquiesced. How else were they to pass the time?

All sense of propriety had gone out the window after the lights went dark and night fell. The temperature in the ship plunged and the medic could see her breath in the chill air, ears and nose and cheeks half-frozen and pink. Rex wasn't doing much better, and finally, considering how bad for him it would be to freeze two times in quick succession ~~which totally wasn't an excuse~~ , she made the tough call to order him fully under the blanket with her. They pulled it over their heads and laid back to back, warm breath heating the space, warming it further. It was a tight fit, the blanket was tiny and Rex's feet were in constant danger of poking out from under it. When it had been silent for an hour and Rex thought the medic had finally gone to sleep, she began moving again.

"Hey," she said, rolling over, jabbing him gently in the ribs when he didn't answer. "Hey, I have a question for you."

" _What now_ ," he asked exasperatedly, eyes still shut. "I am _trying_ to sleep."

"Yeah, yeah. You can go back to doing that in a second I just wanna know. What does 'cyar'ika' mean?"

Rex was silent and unanswering for a long moment. The medic sidled up to his broad back, shivering slightly even under the heat blanket and snuggling close.

"Sweetheart."

For a whole second the medic thought he had just called her sweetheart and her heart nearly stopped. _Well, I suppose he did this morning. But this morning he was half asleep and likely lacking a filter. Would he have called me sweetheart if he'd been fully aware?_

"It means sweetheart."

She hummed, forehead against the back of his neck. She tasted the word again. "Cyar'ika. It's nice."

"Glad to hear you approve," he replied, mouth dry.

The medic regained some of her composure and easy humor.

"Yeah, well it's better than mesh'la. That sounds like some kind of cereal."

Rex couldn't help but laugh at that. 

She looped her arm over his side and nuzzled her face into the back of his neck. Her breath was hot and warm, tickling the little hairs on his neck and he fought the urge to pull away or lean into her and remained utterly, perfectly still. She sighed

"How the hell are you so warm? You almost froze to death yesterday and now you're like," she was quiet for a second, searching. "...I don't know. Something really warm."

"Actually," her hand came up and fumbled for a second before landing on his cheek and moving up to his forehead. "You feel kind of flushed. Might be sick..." Mild worry tinged her voice. The medic squirmed over him so she was half laying across him, trying to see his face in the dark, hands on his cheeks. His ears were _burning_ , and his mouth was dry as the Dune Sea.

"You know," he said slowly. "You could have just told me to roll over."

The thought... well honestly it hadn't even crossed her mind. He'd just seemed so... immovable. Like that was where he was and that was where he would remain. Like some sort of rock monument built to last eternity. But now she felt like she'd overstepped some invisible boundary and was terrified of what unknown lay beyond. Earlier he'd been dying and she was unable to feel anything other than concern. After that, he'd been asleep, unable to notice her presence. And until just a moment ago, she had been absolutely unaware of anything but her own comfort and tired curiosity. Now they were both very much awake and very much aware and she couldn't help but note that he was terribly handsome. 

The medic realized she was staring and muttered a hasty apology and began slithering back, fully intending to die in her sleep by sheer force of will. When she'd rolled over with her back to him once again, Rex was tempted to let it be. But after thirty minutes the temperature continued to drop and he knew he was certainly cold. And if he was cold, he wasn't optimistic about how well the much smaller medic fared behind him.

She was so lost in her head she didn't even notice the icy chill anymore.

With a terror disproportionate to the relatively simple act of holding the woman, he turned over and dragged her close against his chest. She positively _melted_ into him. 

"Too cold. Can't let my favorite medic freeze on me," he murmured by way of explanation.

"We could die here," she said softly. "Really, actually die."

"I know."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Always said I wanted to die in my bed with a pretty girl in my arms," he said cheekily, trying to lighten the mood.

"I guess I can think of worse ways to die than snuggled up with a handsome fella," she replied, unwilling to continue the dark avenue her thoughts had taken for the last half hour.

"Well I wouldn't call my brothers and me _handsome-_ "

"Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you." Her vibrant irritation was something he hadn't expected, and shock colored his voice as he replied.

"How do you plan to do that?"

**Author's Note:**

> ok so hornyposting is what i set out to do so by god i'm doing my fucking best, y'all but i'm aspec as fuck so its hella difficult actually and it will have to wait until a later ch i guess


End file.
